This business of falling behind by a few days works badly with the aging brain. When I look back at the ride to Palinuro now, I’m drawing a lot of blanks. This after all is what drew me to blogging our tours in the first place - so much is lost if I don’t write something about it at the time.
Or, maybe the ride to Palinuro just wasn’t all that memorable in the first place. Or maybe it was the heat. Or maybe it’s because we’re getting close to the end of the tour, and I’m getting a short timer’s attitude. After almost twelve weeks of this I’m ready for a bit of a blog break and am looking forward to a few mornings of hanging out in a Portland coffee shop over an almond croissant, reading someone else’s journal instead.
So, we’ll take a brief break here and let the photos do most of the work. See you tomorrow, when there will be plenty to talk about. If I can remember it until then. I’ll make a few quick notes.
Starting the day out right, with a leisurely stroll up the hill from Maria and Jack’s home. It’s steep, but not really that bad. Rachael’s problem is that she doesn’t start well on a steep hill, and she needed to come to a full stop at the road to check for traffic. If I’d thought about it in time, I could have waited to let her know the coast was clear, but I was focused on making it up myself so Jack and Maria would be impressed. Which they were, I’m sure.
I’m not positive here at what we’re looking at, but I think this is the Licata peninsula we biked around on our way to the beach yesterday. The cove must be somewhere in one of those small indentations in the coastline. Or maybe not.
Now I do know what this is. The point ahead is Acciaroli, the resort town where we dropped off the hitchhiker two days back. And it’s hazy, and will remain so all day. It’s a 4H kind of day - hot, humid, hazy, and hilly. One of our less favorite combos.
Actually, it isn’t all that hot yet, for the first half of the ride. We did great this morning, hitting the road shortly after eight. Our reward was a couple of reasonably cool hours and a refreshing cross breeze off the sea.
Crossing one of the ridges on the way to Acciaroli. Starting to heat up, but the golden glow of the scotch broom on the ridges helps keep our mind off the heat.
Now here’s a memory I like. This was the prettiest part of the ride. We’re climbing up from Ascea on the last ridge of consequence, getting some great views. Below us is a commercial tour group of about fifteen riders going the other way, biking into the best views, with a van bringing up the rear. Probably chock full with treats and cold drinks. Lucky them.
And here’s another memory. The photo is a bit misleading, because it looks like Rachael is pushing on a flat patch for some reason. In fact though, it’s about 10% where she’s standing. The steep part the car is struggling up must be 25%. No way. It’s very hard just to push it and keep your feet from slipping. Oh, and it’s hot. Very hot.
Cape Palinuro from the south. Our hotel is somewhere below the lowest spot on the peninsula. We didn’t think much of this hotel, don’t recommend it, and don’t want to talk about it. But at least it had an early check in time, and AC. Rachael reminds me though that the AC didn’t work at first, and we sat sweating and steaming on the bed for a half an hour until it was repaired.
Palinuro, from a spot further out the cape. There’s a nice four mile hike you can take around the end of the cape, but we spent all afternoon hidden in the room and just took a short walk out here before dinner.
